Gammy's mum may face Thai charges
1:01

Thai medical authorities are threatening to take legal action against a Thai surrogate mother.

Sky News

06 Aug 2014

News

Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua holds baby Gammy, who was reportedly abandoned by his Australian parents in Thailand because he has Down syndrome. Photo: AFP. Source: AFP

AN AUSTRALIAN woman is terrified that she will lose her unborn baby after the Thai surrogacy clinic she is using was raided in the wake of the continuing baby Gammy saga.

The South Australian mother, who will be identified only as “Sarah”, is getting ready to leave for Thailand in eight weeks for the birth of her second child via a surrogate.

But the mother holds grave fears for her unborn baby — due in 10 weeks — and the wellbeing of her surrogate as an industry crackdown in the wake of Gammy’s case now means retrieving the child could become a complicated legal minefield.

May face charges in Tahiland ... Pattaramon Chanbua, 21, the surrogate mother to baby boy Gammy, born with Down syndrome. Picture: APSource: AP

Since Gammy’s story went public — sparking fierce debate on the moral and legal grounding of international surrogacy — Thailand’s strict military rulers have introduced new sanctions on the country’s booming baby market and have already raided the clinic in Thailand which is facilitating Sarah’s surrogacy.

While the clinic’s nurses have reassured Sarah that all of their surrogates are being looked after, she has also been warned new arrangements could be needed to bring her baby into the world, including a last-minute change of hospital and doctor.

Meant to be in Western Australian ... Thai surrogate mother Pattaramon Chanbua (L) holds baby Gammy who she claims was rejected due to his Down syndrome. Picture: AFPSource: AFP

Sarah battled for 10 years to conceive a child, including unsuccessful attempts at IVF, and said she turned to surrogacy in Thailand as a last resort, where she successfully had a baby girl using her eggs and her husband’s sperm.

“She is just the sunshine in our lives,” she said.

“Life has never been so beautiful since the day we had her.

“We wanted two children and we’re very close to completing our family and living happily ever after.”

Sarah says the clinic has told her the surrogate is still being taken to all of her appointments, has had her latest scan, and that the baby is developing well.

The Australian embassy in Thailand has also been providing her with updates on the situation on the ground.

But the worried mum is preparing to extend her trip to the South East Asian country if it takes longer to bring her second baby home.

The West Australian couple at the centre of the surrogacy storm — David Farnell and Wendy Farnell — sparked global controversy for apparently abandoning their Down’s syndrome baby boy, Gammy, in Thailand and taking only his healthy twin sister back home, although the pair from Bunbury, south of Perth, dispute the circumstances.

Since then Thai authorities have raided at least a dozen surrogacy clinics, including the one which arranged Gammy’s surrogacy, and are investigating a doctor there to see if he breached medical ethics, as well as the owner of the clinic.

Gammy’s Thai surrogate mother, Pattaramon Chanbua said she agreed to carry another Thai donor’s egg fertilised by the Australian man in exchange for around US$14,900.

An agency, which she refuses to name for legal reasons, acted as the go-between.

She claims the agency told her the parents wanted her to have an abortion — which is illegal in Thailand — once medical tests revealed the boy had Down’s syndrome, but she refused.

The Australian couple have disputed her version, claiming they were told Gammy had a congenital heart condition but not Down’s syndrome, and left him in Thailand because doctors said he would not survive more than a day or so.

Another version of events last night emerged in which the surrogacy agent involved claimed that the Farnells were willing to take the baby boy back to Australia but that the Thai surrogate had a change of heart and insisted on keeping him if she was paid extra money.

“They were tired of everything. They came up and told me that they were willing to take both babies,” the agent, who was not identified, said.

“I feel very relieved when I heard that from the parents.”

But yesterday Vijit Panayingpaisan, a spokesman at Gammy’s hospital, said fresh tests on the boy had revealed his heart is in fact in a “good, strong condition”.

Meanwhile Australian authorities were yesterday searching for the couple at the centre of the scandal to check on the welfare of Gammy’s sister.

Authorities in Western Australia said they attempted to contact the couple at their home on Tuesday and again yesterday morning, but with a media scrum gathered outside, no one answered the door.

And in a further grim development, a dog belonging to the biological parents of baby Gammy has been seized from their home, after claims they have been neglecting it.

News Corp Australia understands the RSPCA was yesterday contacted by a concerned community member who feared the couple’s pet dog had not been fed for up to three days and could be starving.

The couple, who have not been seen at their home since Monday, left the dog on their property.

Police at biological parents’ home ... A dog allegedly left alone for at least three days is taken to the RSPCA.Source: News Corp Australia

Comments on this story

The Realist of Darwin Posted at 1:15 AM August 07, 2014

No convicted paedophile or child sex attacker should be aloud to have children by any means. The protection of innocent children have to be the highest priority and the sex offender/paedophiles should have no right to bear or have access to children. This baby girl needs to be removed before this shit human can assault her. He has proven on several occasions that he is a child predator.